Where Tipperary Childhood Can Run Free – A Magical Day at Leahy’s East Cork Open Farm.
There are childhood days that disappear almost as soon as they are over, and then there are days that seem to glow in children’s memory for years. A family visit to Leahy’s Open Farm in the green countryside of East Cork belongs firmly in the second category. For families travelling from Tipperary, the journey to Dungourney feels like the beginning of the adventure. Familiar streets gradually give way to winding country roads, hedgerows, open fields and the soft colours of rural Ireland. By the time the farm comes into view, everyday routines already feel far behind. Yet it is when children discover the play areas that the true magic begins.
Playground Made for Big Imaginations. Pic: G. Willoughby.
A Playground Made for Big Imaginations Leahy’s is not simply a place where children look at animals and move quietly from one enclosure to another. It is a place created for movement, curiosity and joyful noise. Across the farm, play spaces invite young visitors to climb, race, dig, slide and explore. Adventure trails stretch ahead like secret pathways, while climbing towers challenge children to rise a little higher and become a little braver with every step. The playgrounds feel less like ordinary equipment and more like stages for childhood stories. A wooden tower becomes a castle. A bridge becomes a crossing over a mysterious valley. A slide becomes a thrilling escape route from an imaginary dragon. Sure, Parents may see timber, ropes and platforms, but children see entire worlds waiting to be conquered.
The Thrill of the real Digger Park For many young visitors, the Digger Park is where dreams suddenly become real. Here, children can take control of real machinery and experience the irresistible satisfaction of scooping, lifting and moving earth. Small hands grip the controls in safety with serious concentration. Faces light up when the bucket finally rises. For a few exciting minutes, they are no longer visitors to a farm; they are builders, engineers and expert machine operators with important work to complete. It is hands-on play at its best; exciting, physical and wonderfully absorbing. This attraction is especially memorable because it offers something children do not often experience elsewhere. They are not merely pressing buttons on a screen or watching someone else having fun. They are participating, experimenting and discovering what they can do.
Laughter on the Barrel Train. Then comes the Barrel Train, rumbling along its route with a cheerful collection of passengers. Children climb aboard with bright eyes and waving hands, ready to be carried around the farm. As the little carriages follow one another, laughter drifts across the countryside. Parents stand nearby, smiling as the train passes, cameras raised to capture expressions of complete delight. The ride may last only a short while, but to a child it can feel like a grand journey through a faraway land. It is one of those simple family experiences that asks for nothing more than everyone being present; children laughing, parents watching and a day unfolding without hurry.
Indoor Adventures When the Rain Appears. Irish skies have a habit of changing their minds, but rain does not have to end the adventure at Leahy’s Farm. The Play Barn and other indoor attractions provide plenty of space for energetic children to continue exploring. When showers tap against the roof, families can step inside rather than packing up and heading for home. The covered play areas also give the day a pleasant rhythm. Children can race around outdoors while the weather is bright, retreat indoors when the clouds gather and return to the fresh air when the sun reappears. This mixture of indoor and outdoor entertainment makes the farm particularly reassuring for parents planning a full day away from home.
Gentle Moments Among the Excitement. Although the play areas are filled with action, Leahy’s also offers quieter moments. Between climbs and train rides, families can wander through the farm, meet its animals (friendly Alpacas, Goats, Sheep, Donkeys, Horses, Rabbits, Snakes, Pigs and Chickens) while discovering displays celebrating Irish rural life. The farm museum introduces visitors to tools, machinery and traditions from earlier generations, adding a sense of heritage to the day.
There is something lovely about watching a child move from the excitement of a playground to the gentle wonder of meeting an animal. One moment they are racing towards a climbing tower; the next, they are standing perfectly still, fascinated by a goat, donkey or rabbit. These contrasts give this farm its special character. Adventure and education sit naturally beside one another, without the day ever feeling organised like a classroom lesson.
Homemade Ice cream. Pic: G. Willoughby.
A Sweet Ending to the Adventure. After hours of climbing, digging, running and exploring, there is still one final pleasure to enjoy. Leahy’s is also known for its ice cream and chocolate experiences, offering families a suitably sweet conclusion to their visit.
Tired children can sit down with a treat, while parents enjoy a well-earned pause and talk about the day’s favourite moments. Perhaps it was the Barrel Train. Perhaps it was the biggest slide, the diggers or the animals. Every child will carry home a different memory. For Tipperary families searching for more than an ordinary afternoon out, Leahy’s Open Farm offers space to reconnect, play and make memories together. Its playgrounds are not simply places to burn off energy. They are places where confidence grows, imaginations awaken and childhood is allowed to run gloriously free.
Long after the muddy shoes have been cleaned and the final photographs have been shared, the laughter of that East Cork adventure will still feel wonderfully close.
RATE Leahy’s East Cork Open Farm with regards Enjoyment and Value for Money: An exceptional 10/10 rating – something increasingly rare in Ireland today.
Pre-deceased by her beloved husband Thomas and son Martin; Mrs Buggle passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, while in the care of staff at St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown, Co, Dublin.
Her passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her sorrowing family; sons Philip, Thomas, Andrew, James and Gerard, daughter Sarah, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended relatives, neighbours and friends.
Requiescat in Pace.
Funeral Arrangements.
The earthly remains of Mrs Buggle will be received into the Church of St Mary, Lucan, Co. Dublin, to repose for Requiem Mass on Wednesday morning at 10:00am, July 22nd, followed by a service of cremation in Newlands Cross Crematorium Ballymount Road, Ballymount, Dublin 24, (Eircode D24 KICY), at 12.30pm, same afternoon.
For those persons who would wish to attend Requiem Mass for Mrs Buggle, but for reasons cannot, same can be viewed streamed live online, HERE. Her service of cremation may also be viewed (Note live only) streamed live online, HERE.
The extended Buggle and Bracken families wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
Note Please: Family flowers only. Donations in lieu, if desired, to St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin in memory of Mrs Margaret (Peggy) Buggle.
Pre-deceased by her husband Michael; Mrs McGrath passed away peacefully while in the care of staff at Padre Pio Nursing Home, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Her passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her sorrowing family; loving daughter Jane, son Eamon, grandchildren Sarah, Rebecca, Cian and Emily, sister, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews and friends.
Requiescat in Pace.
Funeral Arrangements.
The earthly remains of Mrs McGrath will repose for Requiem Mass in the Church of Jesus Christ our Saviour, Rossmore, Co. Tipperary, on Tuesday afternoon, July 21st, at 3:00pm, followed by interment, immediately afterwards in the adjoining graveyard.
For those persons who would wish to attend Requiem Mass for Mrs McGrath, but for reasons cannot, same can be viewed streamed live online, HERE.
The extended McGrath family wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
Pre-deceased by her parents Hubert and Stella and her sisters Marion and Annette; Ms Killackey passed away peacefully at her place of ordinary residence, surrounded by her loving family.
Her passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her sorrowing family; loving son Daragh, daughters Nessa and Breffni, grandchildren Caoimhe, Ruairí, Eabha, Mia and Lucie, daughter-in-law Niamh, sons-in-law Leo and Jack,sisters Carol and Philomena, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, extended relatives, neighbours and a wide circle of friends.
For those persons who would wish to attend Requiem Mass for Ms Killackey, but for reasons cannot, same can be viewed streamed live online, HERE.
The extended Killackey family wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
Those attending the funeral are asked to wear bright colour to celebrate her brilliant personality.
Note Please: No flowers. Donations in lieu, if desired, to Dementia Ireland.
The family of Ms Killackey would like to take this opportunity to express their deep gratitude to Noelle, Michelle, Geraldine, Stephanie, Caoimhe, Jacinta, Ackil, Orla and the management and staff at St. Theresa’s Nursing Home.
Solas na bhflaitheas agus leaba i measc na n-aingeal di.
The Ribbon Men in Tipperary; Where They Came From, Where They Went And Why They Are Less Spoken About in Irish History.
The Ribbon Men were part of the wider movement known as Ribbonism, a Catholic secret-society tradition that grew in Ireland during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They did not begin in Tipperary alone. Their roots are usually traced to the Defender movement of the 1790s, especially in Ulster, where Catholic communities organised for protection in a time of sectarian tension and political unrest. Over time, Ribbonism spread beyond the north and became associated with rural grievances, tenant rights, resistance to tithes, opposition to evictions, and hostility towards landlords, agents, informers, and process servers. Historians describe Ribbonism as both a secret society and a form of community defence, though government officials often used the name loosely for many kinds of rural disorder.
In Tipperary, the Ribbon Men entered a county already well known for agrarian conflict. Long before them there had been Whiteboys, and later there were Rockites, Terry Alts, Caravats, Shanavests, and other local factions. Tipperary’s land system, poverty, insecurity of tenure, tithes, evictions, competition for farms, and resentment of middlemen created the conditions in which secret societies could take hold. From the 1760s onwards the county was heavily involved in these rural movements, under different names and with changing motives.
Their activities in Tipperary were usually not open political rebellion in the modern sense. They worked in secret and at night. They used oaths, passwords, threatening letters, armed visits to houses, raids for firearms, attacks on property, intimidation of tenants, latter who took land from evicted families, and warnings to employers or landlords. Some actions were violent and sometimes deadly. Others were intended to frighten rather than kill. A National Archives record from 1828, for example, refers to Ballingarry Glebe, (NR), near Borrisokane and the forwarding of new oaths sworn by entrants into the “Ribband System.” This is important because it places Ribbon organisation, not just vague agrarian unrest, in north Tipperary.
The evidence suggests that Ribbon and Ribbon-like activity was strongest in north and mid Tipperary. The Ormond districts, especially around Borrisokane and Nenagh, appear repeatedly in studies of threatening notices and rural intimidation. Daniel Grace’s study of threatening notices in pre-Famine Tipperary found that land was the dominant issue behind such threats, and that the northern baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond produced a particularly high concentration of notices. Other places connected with this wider pattern include Thurles, Roscrea and Ikerrin, Templemore, Borrisoleigh, Cashel, Golden, Bansha, Tipperary town, Killenaule, Mullinahone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir, and Clonmel. Some of these places were centres of actual incidents; others were police, court, or administrative centres where cases were reported, tried, or investigated.
Where did they go? In one sense, they did not simply go anywhere. Ribbonism changed shape. Some members emigrated, especially to Britain and America, bringing forms of Irish Catholic fraternal organisation with them. Scholarship on Ribbon societies shows that the tradition did not remain purely rural or purely Irish; it also appeared among Irish migrant communities in Britain and later influenced Catholic fraternal organisations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians. In Ireland itself, the Ribbon Men faded as new movements took the stage. The Young Irelanders, the Fenians, the Land League, the Irish Parliamentary movement, and later revolutionary nationalism, latter which gave people different languages and structures for protest. The old secret agrarian oath-bound society became less central.
There are several reasons why the Ribbon Men are less spoken about today. First, they were secretive. They did not leave behind manifestos, membership lists, or proud public records in the way later political organisations did. Much of what we know comes from police reports, court records, hostile newspapers, informers, and government correspondence. These sources are useful, but they are also biased and often confused.
Second, the term “Ribbonman” was sometimes used too broadly. Officials could blame almost any unsolved agrarian crime on Ribbonism. This makes it difficult to separate genuine Ribbon organisation from Faction Fights, local feuds, Whiteboy activity, Rockite activity, or ordinary crime. Historians therefore handle the term carefully.
Third, their story is morally uncomfortable. They were not simply heroes or villains. They defended poor Catholic tenants in a harsh land system, but they also used intimidation and violence. That complexity does not fit easily into the cleaner patriotic story often told about later Irish nationalism.
Finally, Tipperary’s later history overshadowed them. The Famine, the Land War, the War of Independence, Soloheadbeg, and the Civil War became larger parts of public memory. Compared with those events, the Ribbon Men belong to a darker, earlier, more secretive world of oath-bound rural resistance.
Yet they matter. To understand Tipperary in the nineteenth century, we must remember not only the famous leaders and public movements, but also the hidden networks of ordinary people who acted from fear, anger, loyalty, and desperation. The Ribbon Men were part of that hidden history.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Recent Comments